Tom Turner

Modernism Assignment: Discuss the Aims and Methods of the Impressionists, drawing
upon and comparing specific examples to support your argument.

23rd April, 2007

Word Count: 1167

Cezanne, Gardanne, 1885-86

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The Impressionists (Emile Zola called them Actualists (Britt, 1990, pg 15)) desired to

portray scenes realistically, rather than in the ways of the academic idealisation. Their

methods were rejected by the Academie des Beaux, and it The Impressionists Handbook

(pg?) describes them as a group of artists whose aims were frequently at loggerheads, yet

who set out together, rejecting the Salon which had so often rejected them. Perhaps this

was their first aim, to overcome the authority of the Academy. Mauclair’s (1903,

paragraph 11) account of the Impressionists claims that “It [Impressionism] has protested

against any literary, psychological or symbolic element in painting. It has reacted at the

same time against the historical painting of Delaroche and the mythological painting of

Ecole de Rome, and then longing for the truth, the horror of emphasis and of false

idealism which paralysed the novelist as well as the painter, led the Impressionists to

substitute for beauty a novel notion, that of character.”

Impressionists wanted to move forward and create a fresh way that reflected their

contemporary world more genuinely. The influences of the camera gave them insight,

empowering them to paint from new points of perspective, and inspiring ideas including

more candid gestures, soft focused edges of forms and representing spontaneity. The

Impressionists sought to reveal atmosphere, mood and emotion through accurate analysis

and representation of light and colour. They strove to reproduce their actual visual senses

without interference from perceived visual interpretations of what they saw. “Monet

describes the only valid objective of the landscape painter as ‘your own naïve impression

of the scene before you.” (Wadley, 1981, p.10).

Impressionism is typically given a period spanning about ten years (c.1874-1885), which

begs the question, ‘what brought about its demise?’ Throughout the progression of this

study from their aims to their methods, I hope to extrapolate some conclusions. As I

explore this movement, I will focus on works by Paul Cezanne who began his work just

before the Impressionist period and whose vision, I suggest, carried him through it to lead
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the way forward. Cezanne, wanted to ‘make of Impressionism something more solid and

durable, like the old masters.’ (Britt, 1990, p.70)

In some of his early pre-Impressionist work, such as The Artist’s Father (1866) and

Abduction (c.1867), Cezanne included more classical methods, poses and symbolism,

coupled with dark backgrounds and solid forms. His ability to include vibrant colour and

light, and brushstrokes that were to become a trademark of Impressionism are apparent in

these works.

Cezanne, The Abduction, c.1867 Cezanne, The Artist's Father, 1866

A foundational aim of the Impressionists was to paint what they actually saw, laying

aside all preconceived ideals. A method that aided spontaneous honesty was to paint en

plein air, applying unprocessed brushstrokes loaded with spectrum colours. An issue that

arises from plein air painting is that memory, and subsequent imagination, are forced to

come into play as the dynamic elements of light, humans and the like have changed.

Recollection becomes the interpretation of a seamless sequence of images, in itself

dynamic and necessarily imaginative. A characteristic of Impressionism is an appearance

of dissolving images (Impressionism and European Modernism, p.135) or an ethereal

atmosphere.
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Sometimes artists would work up their paintings in the studio, adding effect and/or

iconography. This allowed them to present improved representations of unposed humans

and human influences. Renoir used (among others) his wife Aline, and servant girl

Gabrielle, numerous times in iconic forms.

Paintings of Gabrlielle

and Aline by Renoir; Luncheon at the Boating Party, 1879-80; The Apple Seller, c.1890; Gabrielle with

Jewel Box, 1910; Country Dance, 1883;

Impressionists derived numerous methods from photography. Studies of photographs

inspired them to create unusual compositional structures and to use new angles of

perspective. They began to emphasize depth and foreshortening, or flatness or

panorama, such as wide angle or telephoto lenses would in photographs. Cameras

could ‘capture’ subjects in motion. This allowed the Impressionists to analyse

movement and represent things, such as human postures as they moved more

accurately. Monet noticed that slow shutter speeds blurred moving figures, and he

began to smudge his painted figures similarly.

Monet, The Bark at Girvenny, 1887

“The Impressionists aimed to capture light and colour realistically. They studied both

closely and perceived that everything we see has colour. Form, perspective, volume and

space are essentially derived from variations of hues, tones and intensities of colour. They

determined that shadow is not the absence of light, but light of a different quality and a

different value.” (Mauclair, 1903). As a result, they tended to do away with bituminous

underpainting and muddy colours in favour of a simplified palette with pure colours of

the spectrum, white and black. They generally avoided black shadows and outlines (as
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they don’t occur in nature). They painted strokes of pure colour onto white or light

canvases and either mixed them on the canvas or allowed the viewers’ eye to mix them

optically. Pissaro explored colour theories that Seurat used in by the 1880’s, and

encouraged other Impressionists to use them in order to address shortfalls such as the lack

of solidity in the forms in their paintings. In turn, the ‘scientific’ approach brought about

a more synthetic, vibrant quality to their paintings as they juxtaposed complementary

colours to, amongst other things, create colour ‘vibrations’, calculate the results of local

colours and reflected colours and light sources. Ultimately, this compromised the first

impressions they sought to represent and moved toward the realm of neo-impressionism.

Cezanne’s determination to measure his art against nature, not against other art (Wadley,

1981, p.10) was within the aims of Impressionism. Throughout his work, he managed to

retain the solidity of form that others lost. In his work Seated Bather (c.1873-77),

Cezanne builds up reflected colour and luminosity from the solid form beneath, rather

than glazing light into the overall work with the etherealness of say Renoir’s Sailboats at

Argenteuil (1874) or Monet’s Impression Sunrise (1873).

Cezanne, Seated Bather, c.1873-877 Renoir, Sailboats at Argenteuil, 1874 Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1873

It seems that the aims of the Impressionists were bolder than could be understood by their

peers or contemporary society (in general) in their immediate time. However, as they

worked through their aims, the methods they developed undermined the very essence of

their aims. Methodology suppressed spontaneity and the integrity of painting what they

actually saw. Yes, they had broken the rules and conquered the Academy, only to define

and adopt a new set of rules under which they planned to operate (although the ‘rules’

they made were often broken). Ultimately, I see Impressionism as a platform at which
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artists arrived desiring to be realists, and which they departed with methods to enhance

their representation of reality. Like a fine wine, Impressionism became greater after its

capping.

Monet and Renoir (among others) retreated from the ideals of Impressionism in their later

works, reusing elements like classic symbols and structures to be more commercially

viable. Cezanne continued to press through, building form and structure into his work

with both classical and realist, line and colour, scientific and natural analysis, spontaneity

and technique. He burst forth toward the frontiers of what is commonly considered to be

the next great modern art movement – Cubism. To me, works such as The Card Players

and Portrait of Ambroise Vollard are among his best.

Cezanne,
The Card Players, 1899 Cezanne, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1899

Bibliography and References:

Britt, D. (1990). Modern Art, Impressionism to Post-Modernism. London: Thames and Hudson
Wadley, N. (1981). Cezanne and his art. Northbrook Illinois: Book Value International
Beckett, Sister W. (1995). The Story of Painting. NSW: RD Press
Columbus Museum of Art. (1991). Impressionism and European Modernism. Seattle: The University of
Washington Press.
Auckland City Art Gallery. (1985). Claude Monet – Painter of Light. Auckland: Auckland City Art Gallery
Mauclair, C. (1903). The French Impressionists (1860-1900). London: Duckworth & Co. (retrieved March 2007
from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14056/14056-h/14056-h.htm
n.a. n.d. Impressionism. Retrieved March 2007 from http://impressionism.org
N.A. (N.D.). About Impressionism. Retrieved March 2007 from
http://www.impressionism.org/teachimpress/impressionismTP.pdf
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